Steven Johnson: Even-keeled Horned Frogs follow in Sonny Dykes’ steps for win vs. SMU
There had never been a buildup for the Battle for the Iron Skillet like this year’s rivarly game.
The metroplex rivalry was inflamed by the departure of Sonny Dykes from one program to the bigger one in the smaller city.
How heartbroken was SMU about the breakup? There was a poster pregame that had Dykes sitting side by side with Osama Bin Laden with TCU across his taqiyah (skullcap). Seems a bit much for a football game doesn’t it?
In the end, Dykes didn’t let the emotions of the game get to him or his team. You can’t hide anything from your players. They would’ve sensed if all the chatter had knocked him off his game.
Instead the Horned Frogs took the message to heart and jumped out to a 28-7 lead in front of announced sellout crowd at Ford Stadium and prevailed for a 42-34 win.
“All that talking don’t win no games,” Josh Newton said bluntly after the win.
A solid plan and execution does. To formulate that plan, Dykes had to ignore more scrutiny and hostility than he’s used to. If you talk to those around the TCU program, they’ll point out how laid back Dykes is. It’s all he knows, and it helped navigate what may have been one of the most difficult weeks of his coaching career.
“Sometimes it’s hard to be at the brunt of that criticism, but I’m 52-years-old. I’m not 18, 20 or 22 like our players. If I can’t handle a little bit of that I need to get into another profession,” Dykes said. “I tried to not pay attention this week and focus on coaching my team.
“If I can’t do that, then I need to go work at Chicken Express.”
Be careful Sonny, that lunchtime rush has plenty of pressure itself. Especially if they run out of chicken.
But seriously, when your coach has that type of attitude how can you not follow suit? For all the players it became easier to block out the noise as they tried to emulate Dykes’ mentality.
“It was very easy (to block out the noise). We have a very mature team, we don’t really pay attention to the media or anything else. Coach Dykes preached to us that what matters in here is us and only us,” Derius Davis said. “It wasn’t a challenge for us.”
Max Duggan, who threw for three touchdowns, agreed: “We weren’t really worried about it. Coach Dykes did a really great job of telling us, don’t let the outside stuff kind of get into this. We didn’t want to let our emotions take over and do some things we weren’t supposed to. I think that just shows what Coach Dykes and the staff did with us as a team.”
While TCU made it a point to not let the rivalry rile up their emotions, that doesn’t mean they didn’t understand the moment in front of them.
Many of the Horned Frogs already hadn’t beaten SMU and to lose a third straight game with all the chatter surrounding Dykes name? It was a scenario that was unacceptable in their eyes.
“It’s very special because it’s going on his resume as well. It’s like when Kevin Durant left the Thunder and went to the Warriors. We told Coach Dykes we got his back, we’ve got his six,” Newton said.
When Dykes took over in Fort Worth he wanted the players to be the face of his program. That meant having their backs on and off the field.
Saturday was confirmation that the roster is buying into what Dykes is selling.
“When you have a new coaching staff, you have a lot of changes going on. Their big deal was to get us to trust them, so having those guys come along it’s been a great addition,” Davis said.
As he surveyed the crowd at SMU that struggled to fill Ford Stadium for a variety of reasons, Dykes likely feels confirmation that he made the right decision hopping across the metroplex.
All the hype, even the negative kind like the poster, was worth dealing with to be at the place he feels he belongs.
“The stuff off the field was college football. That’s why this game was well attended, that’s why Kansas is sold out today. That’s why Texas A&M and Akransas is sold out at Jerry World. That’s why we’re sold out next week for Oklahoma. It’s exciting, it’s great for the fans and it’s college football,” Dykes said.
Dykes didn’t crumble under the pressure of his highly-anticipated return. And because of that TCU remains the only undefeated FBS program in Texas a quarter through the season, and no one feels more joy than him, except for his players.
“There’s nothing that makes me happier than to have this win for Coach Dykes, and I think the guys in the locker room would say the same thing too,” Duggan said.
This story was originally published September 25, 2022 at 4:00 AM.
